RO maple sap concentrate

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by GormBrewhouse, Jan 21, 2016.

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  1. GormBrewhouse

    GormBrewhouse Pooh-Bah (2,111) Jun 24, 2015 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah

    Usually, maple sap harvested for syrup ranged from 1 to 4 % sugar. Many run the sap through an RO and end up with 6 to 10 percent concentrate for boiling. I know the syrup producers are extracting the water and i assume some of the minerals found in raw sap. My questions are:
    1. Has anyone used the RO maple sap concentrate for beer and
    2. What if any problems may arise from this concentrate?
     
  2. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah


    I've read of several people using the raw sap in replacement for their water...

    give it a shot if you want to play around.
     
  3. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    I'd remember that you need like 20 gallons of sap to make a gallon of maple syrup. If you use this to mash, you'll be hurting your efficiency a little. Sugar water goes in, sugar water goes out.

    I've also heard that grade B maple syrup is less fermentable than good quality maple syrup. That's a good thing because more residual flavor is left in the beer and doesn't ferment out.

    That's about all I've heard about maple beer. If I ever try to make a maple beer the syrup is going directly in the keg.
     
  4. GormBrewhouse

    GormBrewhouse Pooh-Bah (2,111) Jun 24, 2015 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah

    I have used raw sap before with good results. Once the sap is run through an RO machine, I just wonder if it would change the final product due to minerals being stripped out during the RO process.

    @inchrisin it takes anywhere from 20 gallons up to over 40 depending on % sugar. I have used fancy, grade a grade b and commercial maple syrup usually in the secondary. All with good luck
     
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  5. mikehartigan

    mikehartigan Maven (1,421) Apr 9, 2007 Illinois

    Not sure I understand the RO process with maple sap in the context of brewing beer. It seems you'd end up with all the minerals that went in, in a concentrated form, just as you would if you removed the water using the centuries old traditional boiling method. The RO process will only remove the water from the sap, nothing else. The good stuff, in this context, would be the waste line in a typical water purification system. Perhaps ironically, you could add the resulting 'pure' water back in when you boil. Which raises the obvious question, why bother? Why not just use the sap? Boil it down to what you need.
     
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  6. GormBrewhouse

    GormBrewhouse Pooh-Bah (2,111) Jun 24, 2015 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah

    @mikehartigan thanks, you raise a good point. I will consult with my syruping friends and find out exactly what the concentrate it
     
  7. skivtjerry

    skivtjerry Pooh-Bah (1,865) Mar 10, 2006 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah

    All your maple flavors would be concentrated by a factor of ~3, as would the contribution to the OG. Whether this is a big deal depends on your recipe and goals. To look at it another way, it would be the rough equivalent of adding 48oz of maple syrup to a 5 gallon recipe brewed with ordinary water. YMMV, as you know, the numbers can vary a lot from sugarhouse to sugarhouse and day to day at the same place.
     
    GormBrewhouse likes this.
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